Preparing for 2026 Building Performance Standards

Building Performance Standards continue to expand across the U.S. and will soon cover over 20% of commercial and multi-family real estate across the country. In 2025 we saw the first major BPS deadlines hit and the industry got a glimpse of the complexity of BPS filings even for buildings that meet or exceed the performance targets!

Preparing for Building Performance Standards requires expertise across four key areas:

1) Utility and property data management

2) Engineering and decarbonization planning  

3) Renewable energy generation and procurement

4) State and local regulations

Below, we break down the importance of these four components and how they ensure successful BPS compliance for real estate portfolios of all sizes.

Utility and Property Data Management  

Completing a compliance submission under a Building Performance Standard (BPS) requires that certain basic data be available, complete, and accurate, for evaluation by a program administrator (i.e., the jurisdiction). These core requirements include 12 months of utility data for the entire building (yes, commercial and residential tenants too), the building’s gross floor area, and the primary use type(s), since the applicable BPS targets and other compliance requirements for your building are determined by the relationship between these variables.

You might be surprised by how difficult it is to get your hands on some of this data.  

Many of the first BPSs to come online are in jurisdictions that have benchmarking requirements already in place. Your buildings in these jurisdictions will benefit from the local utility companies having already established processes for delivering aggregated whole-building energy use data to building owners for benchmarking purposes. This same process can be used to gather the utility data required for BPS compliance. If there are utility accounts that are paid directly by tenants and you are not able to get aggregated whole-building data from your utility, you will have to request the utility data from your tenants, which can be quite time consuming.

The process for getting aggregated whole-building data from your local utility varies. Some utilities require only a single signature, where others require “letters of authorization” for consent from every tenant in the building. Even for utilities that do provide aggregate data, sometimes it can take up to three months for the data to be delivered. As soon as you identify that a building needs to comply with benchmarking or BPS, confirm how many utility accounts are at the building, who pays them, and if the utility is able to deliver aggregated data. This will save you from a huge headache as filing deadlines approach.  

The second most important data point you need for BPS compliance is the building gross floor area (GSF). The issue with GSF is that once a building is constructed, almost no one tracks the GSF, since they track gross leasable, rentable, or usable instead, which are never the same as GSF. GSF is the area of the building from exterior wall to exterior wall and includes all interior floor area including mechanical spaces, basements, and stairwells. Parking is typically not included in the GSF used for BPS calculations. To confirm the GSF, you can look for original architectural plans of the building if they are available, use a recent stacking plan, or you may need to get the building measured, which can be costly and time-consuming. Similar to the challenge of collecting utility data for your covered buildings, you should start early to confirm if you have access to the building’s GSF or if you need to take steps to determine it.

Engineering & Decarbonization Planning

BPS policies are enacted to reduce energy and emissions waste in the existing building stock. Many of the buildings covered by BPSs today were constructed at various points over the last 100 years, and energy efficiency received little to no attention. As new technologies were developed and occupant needs evolved,  various components of building systems, lighting, heating, air conditioning, windows and walls were upgraded over time. As a result, when you evaluate a building against BPS requirements, you will see that some are at or near their corresponding efficiency targets while others are using far more energy than is allowed by the BPS. BPS policies set performance targets based on building use type, not age, so each building will require a specific energy efficiency or decarbonization roadmap to cost-effectively reach the BPS performance targets over time.

There are multiple approaches to delivering energy efficiency, net-zero, or decarbonization roadmaps across the industry. For those buildings that  need significant reductions in energy use to meet BPS targets, you should evaluate what type of engineering analysis aligns best with the circumstances of the building, as well as your ownership structure, hold period, leasing activity, and investor pressure. Most buildings will need an energy audit and long-term decarbonization roadmap to identify and plan strategic upgrades and retrofits to major systems that align with the life cycle of the current equipment and the capital planning cycle. To be actionable, this effort will require substantial data collection about equipment size, age, energy use, and occupancy patterns so that recommendations can be tailored to the building. Make sure you ask potential engineers if they have experience with your type of buildings.

Renewable Energy Generation and Procurement

Strategic use of on- and off-site renewable energy can dramatically impact a building’s ability to comply with BPS targets in most jurisdictions. Renewable electricity used (and/or produced) onsite can often be deducted from the total electricity consumption of the building before the BPS compliance is determined,  saving you thousands of dollars from avoided fines. This can also be true for off-site or purchased renewable energy under some programs, so review your specific BPS requirements and, if applicable, evaluate eligible renewable electricity suppliers for your properties. Renewable energy projects are complex and require months or years of planning, but can add value to your assets, lower utility bills, and support BPS compliance.

Important to note: Many of the attractive tax credits for renewables have been drastically reduced by new legislation so owners need to act fast to take advantage of the tax credits that will sunset in 2027. Remember that BPS performance is typically based on the prior calendar year’s energy performance so you will only get credit for renewable energy use the year after energy starts flowing. (e.g.: BPS compliance in 2028 considers energy use from 2027, so you want renewable generation to come online for January 2027 to count toward a 2028 compliance deadline.)

State and Local Regulations

Each jurisdiction tailored their BPS to address local factors such as building stock, utility types, electricity generation sources, and community priorities. As a result, the metrics used to measure BPS performance can vary from energy use intensity to emissions intensity, or ENERGY STAR Score. Similarly, compliance timelines and structures also vary, with some policies requiring reporting every year and others only every five years. So, as you review your portfolio for BPS coverage, pay close attention to the metrics, targets, deadlines, and frequency of reporting for your covered buildings.

The mechanics behind BPS reporting also vary across the country, with some programs using custom portals and others relying on ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager. Make sure you understand how the relevant BPSs facilitate reporting, if there are specific professional accreditations required for submissions, and if you need to create accounts in the relevant BPS portals for building owners and service providers.

The good news is that despite the variability in BPSs and their reporting requirements across the country, much of the same data collection, analysis, and planning activities discussed above will lead to success under many of the BPSs impacting your portfolio.

Planning for 2026

In 2026 these jurisdictions will have ongoing BPS reporting requirements

• New York City: May 1 for all buildings over 25,000

• Boston: May 15th for all buildings over 35,000

• Washington DC: Compliance cycle ends December 31st for all buildings that received a one-year COVID-19 Public Health Emergency delay. Buildings eligible for this delay must have submitted a 2020 District Benchmark Results and Compliance Report demonstrating that the building was operating at that time.

These jurisdictions have new BPS compliance requirements beginning in 2026

• State of Colorado: June 1 reporting deadline, but the interim performance requirement is waived for this cycle

• State of Washington: June 1 for buildings over 220,000

• Chula Vista: Buildings between 20,000 and 50,000 square feet are now covered

These jurisdictions have BPS deadlines coming up before 2030 so planning should start now:

• Cambridge, MA

• Denver, CO

• Evanston, IL

• State of Maryland

• Montgomery County, MD

• Newton, MA

• State of Oregon

When planning for 2026 BPS compliance, remember the following:

• Screen your entire portfolio for your covered buildings, you never know if policies have changed or new policies have come online since you last looked

• Compare your 2023 and 2024 calendar year energy use with the BPS performance targets since 2025 data will not be ready until early 2026

• For buildings that are over the near-term BPS targets:

  • Review all of the alternative compliance pathways and consider reaching out to the local regulators to discuss a decarbonization plan that could avoid fines.

  • Develop decarbonization plans to implement major upgrades. While these efforts may not impact 2026 compliance, they will ease future compliance filings and can ensure your buildings meet long-term BPS targets.

• Most local regulators don’t want to levy fines, they want buildings to improve, so if  you are working on it and can share updates on a decarbonization plan or similar, they may give you a reprieve (as long as you follow through).

Find The Right BPS Partner

Streamline your BPS planning process by finding an experienced service provider to deliver successful outcomes for all of your covered buildings. A good service provider can:

• Support data collection, portfolio screening, and compliance filings for all buildings covered by BPS policies in your portfolio.

• Evaluate BPS performance beyond the current reporting cycle out to 2030 or later to give you a longer-term view of required improvements

• Conduct energy audits, engineering calculations, and develop decarbonization roadmaps to ensure that your buildings meet future BPS targets and comply with policy requirements.

• Maximize financial incentives for upgrades and retrofits. Many jurisdictions have cost share programs and rebates to offset the soft and hard costs of efficiency upgrades

• Help you prioritize which properties need attention in the near, medium and long-term

• Coordinate with your building-level teams and ensure they are involved in the process. Operations and management teams can be great collaborators if they are involved from the start.

It is never too early to get started! To be successful, your BPS compliance effort should start with data collection and screening in the fall so when January arrives you only need the final 2025 utility bills to finalize your filings.

A comprehensive approach to successful BPS filings will require nuanced planning for certain buildings, including engineering and energy modeling to identify and prioritize upgrades, and conversations with local regulators to ensure alignment with BPS requirements. This is much more complex than the typical benchmark filing, so plan early and budget accordingly.

Happy BPS season 2026!!

If you have questions about BPS and your portfolio, or want support with engineering calculations or a decarbonization roadmap for your buildings covered by a BPS, contact us at info@codegreen.com